The fleet-defense model begins with fighters breaking a large strike into smaller groups, then heavy, medium, and light AA separating and engaging individual aircraft. The aim was to leave each ship facing one attacker at a time, improving the odds of a kill, a spoiled aim, or a successful evasive maneuver. Destroyer captains could watch falling bombs from an open bridge and order a hard turn at the last moment. Philip Vian's memory of calling the wrong turn when HMS Afridi was lost shows how one failed judgment could overshadow many earlier successful evasions.
Notable Point · 4:02-6:24
Layered air defense ends with one aircraft and one evasive decision
Fighters and successive gun layers sought to reduce a mass strike to isolated attackers, after which destroyer survival could depend on a captain's final turn.